In the harvesting of forage crop material such as hay, the hay is cut by a swather which lays it down in swaths which are approximately 9 feet wide. Once the hay is swathed, a rake is used to collect the hay in the swath and form it into a relatively narrow row called a windrow. Typical raking equipment for this purpose comprises a plurality of horizontally extending, reciprocating bars on which tines or teeth extend vertically downwardly. The bars move the tines or teeth in paths which extend diagonally with respect to the axis of a swath and drag the hay within the swath to one side or the other, thus forming a relatively narrow, elongated row or windrow.
Although this equipment has received a high degree of acceptance over the years, there are certain problems associated with its use which the present invention has an object of solving. In use in harvesting forage crops, the equipment described has a tendency to damage the leaves of the crop material as the rake drags the crop laterally across the ground into a windrow. Further, most rakes and mergers in use today are drawn by a tractor which must drive over a part of the swath just prior to raking or merger, thereby causing further damage. Still further with existing equipment, a second windrow merger operation is further required so as to merge two windrows into one after the hay in the windrows is dry, so as to allow for pick up and processing by high capacity bailers or forage harvesters.
Known rotary rakes generally fall into two categories. Those that are drawn behind a tractor, pick up the hay and therefor avoid the damage caused by dragging it laterally across the ground into a windrow. However, crop damage still occurs when the tractor must drive on the windrow as it pulls the rake along. Those that are mounted on the front of the tractor avoid this problem but are generally unsuitable for use on bumpy terrain since the teeth of the rake being spaced forwardly of the tractor front wheels tend to dig into the ground or are raised out of contact with the hay as the tractor tilts downwardly or upwardly when its front wheels drop below or rise above grade level.